This is the third post of a 4 part series but if you can't wait for the rest to come out you can get the whole reporthere!

This post is a continuation of our series on our nationwide concession survey. This survey data is meant to paint a broad picture of the overall spending trends of different demographics across the United States.

Last week we dissected the results from questions two and three: "how much do you usually spend at a concession stand?" and "how much more likely would you be to visit the concession stand if you were offered a reward?"

What we discovered is that Females spend 4% more at the concession stand than Males across all age groups, but with only $0.91 variance with average spend. We also discovered that Females are slightly more motivated to visit the concession stand when rewarded than Males, with Females between 31-40 most likely to be influenced by a reward.

While this gives us quantifiable data on approximately how much guests would typically spend and how willing they'd be to buy something if offered a reward, it doesn't reveal what rewards would best motivate your guests.

We're all about getting feedback that helps drive foot-traffic and increase sales, which is why we wanted to know what sort of reward would most motivate your guest -- not only to go to the concession stand, but to give feedback.

That's why Question 4 of our survey asked:

Which rewards would motivate you to leave feedback the most?

For this question, customers were able to select multiple answers of their favorite reward. We know rewards drive customers to concession stands, but we wanted to know which reward would most motivate customers to leave feedback. If the reward is good enough for customers to fill out a survey, it can also be used as an excellent generic marketing coupon.

The rewards selections we offered were the following:

“Free gift without purchase - like a small popcorn” was the most desired type of reward for leaving feedback (57% overall), which comes as little surprise considering how successful Pearl Theaters has been at giving away free popcorn. What was surprising is that “free gift with purchase” came in second place with 51%.

This could be anything -- from a buy one, get one free offer to a free soft drink with a purchase of a popcorn. It goes to show customers want to feel like they received an item for free, even if they have to spend money to get it. Speaking of which, the third most desired reward was a cash discount with a minimum purchase. This is a flat discount and not a percentage.

What puts this above a majority of offers is the fact that customers can use it right away and tangibly see the dollar amount they save. Combo offers, such as “buy a popcorn with a candy and get a drink free,”came in fourth place. This makes sense because the customer is forced to buy multiple items for a small discount instead of receiving an item for “free.” It also may be hard to calculate total combo discounts while trying to still nab a middle seat for a movie.

The least desirable rewards were exclusive trailers or video clips and discounts for establishments (grocery and restaurant) that are not specifically for the theater. The video clips and bloopers may be more desirable if it was for a movie that was highly sought after such as Star Wars, but generally it will perform poorly.

Customers typically do not want discounts for outside companies, most likely because they have to wait to use it at a business they have no interest in. Sadly, because of this, dinner and a movie discounts may become a relic of the past.

This data does not seem to vary significantly between demographics, but 83% of men above the age of 50 strongly desired a free item without purchase and were highly motivated by rewards.Rewards which give instant gratification are 2.7 times more popular overall with guests than delayed satisfaction rewards such as loyalty points.

So, if guests are motivated by rewards -- especially those that offer instant gratification -- then it makes sense to find out what guests typically purchase at the concession stand; that way we can discover how to better tailor rewards to them and increase concession foot-traffic.

What questions did we ask to get this information and what were the results? Tune in next week for the conclusion of our series to discover the answer.

Want to find out all the details? Download our concession survey whitepaper.